


A Night at the Movies

by scullyphile



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Bad movies, F/M, Fluff, MSR, Popcorn, box office, cinema, date, goldberg variation, movies - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-04
Updated: 2015-11-04
Packaged: 2018-04-30 00:11:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5143118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scullyphile/pseuds/scullyphile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mulder and Scully catch a movie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Night at the Movies

“Watch the box office for a minute. I gotta pee,” she said and walked away. It was a slow night at the movie theatre, which was a good because the usher called off for his shift.  I stared at the wall of glass doors that was part of a large, high wall of windows, trying to see if anyone was coming. After dark it’s harder to tell when customers are coming in, and when you do see them they look like zombies lumbering closer.

Two figures were coming, one tall and one short. A woman and a man, their coats blowing open in the wind. Once they were inside, I saw that the man was handsome with kind of a large nose, but it didn’t detract from his looks at all. She was a red head with a short bob. Like many people do, they stopped about ten feet into the lobby and looked up, staring at the marquee, mouths slightly open.  I don’t know why, but that’s the face people always make when they’re looking at movie times.

“Did you really tell Richie you liked baseball?” he asked, turning to the woman. 

From where I stood, it looked like she was blushing. She had walked in all business at first, so the blushing seemed strange. Her outfit was all black, a pantsuit with a black shirt underneath, but her trench coat was tan. I tried to guess what movie they might be watching, which was usually easy. People are pretty predictable after awhile. These two, though, were tough to predict. They didn’t even seem like the type to be catching a movie at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday.

“What? I like baseball.”

“Yeah you do,” he said, jabbing his elbow into her side. They were definitely flirting.

“Hi,” I said from my spot behind the register. “Let me know if you need help finding anything.”

“Thank you,” she responded.

“Yeah, actually,” he began, walking closer. “What’s the worst movie you have?”

“The worst movie?” I asked, trying to quickly discern if this customer was the joking type or the serious type. I decided on the former. “Well, I hear Love in a Donut Shop is awful, but you don’t seem like romantic comedy people.”

“Definitely not,” she piped up, emerging from behind him to stand at his side, very close to his side.

“That’s what I thought,” I said quickly, pointing my finger up at the ceiling to show them I had a better idea. “Tell me: how do you feel about things that are supposed to be creepy but fall so short they land in hilarious?”

“Sounds perfect,” he said, smiling.

“For two?” I asked, because I thought she seemed like she might want to pay for her own ticket.

“Just one,” she answered.

“Don’t listen to her. Two.”

I hoped they weren’t going to force me to be the deciding vote. People do that, fight over who is going to pay and then neither one backs down. They just stare at me, waiting for me to do something.

“OK, but I’m getting the popcorn,” was her way of offering a truce. Good, a classic. I took his money and gave him the change.

“Lake Doom is in theatre eleven, to your right,” I stated, pointing with one hand and holding out the tickets with the other. “Enjoy your show.”

“Thank you,” he responded. He took the tickets and held his elbow out to the woman. “Scully, let’s go get some popcorn.”

She slipped her arm through his and they walked to the concession stand. I stood watching them when Amber returned from the bathroom.

“Thanks for watching box office,” Amber said. “Sorry you have to usher tonight.”

“That’s OK. I never get to usher anymore. Besides, there are only two theatres left to clean.”

From the concession stand I could hear the woman laughing. One popcorn and two drinks. Either they didn’t like the same kind of pop or they hadn’t been dating very long. Our drinks are so giant and expensive most couples share one.

I cleaned my remaining theatres and made sure the bathrooms were clean. Then I stood talking to Amber for about fifteen minutes before I decided to do theatre checks. I walked from auditorium to auditorium, making sure no one was doing anything they shouldn’t be and that the movies were all running fine.

When I got to theatre eleven I heard the bad dialogue and chuckled to myself. I hoped they were enjoying making fun of it. I stepped out into the auditorium and scanned the seats for people. I saw them about three rows from the top. They were the only people who had bought tickets to this movie, so they were all alone. Well, except for me, but they hadn’t noticed me.

He had his arm around her shoulders. They had discovered that our armrests fold up and put the one between them up. She was nestled into the side of him, and her hand moved to rest on his thigh. I ducked behind the wall. I peaked out at them again, and saw him use his free hand to lift her chin and kiss her. 

That could have been the end of it. They could have continued watching the bad movie, and I could have walked out and gone about my business. However, they did not stop. It seemed they had every intension of making out like teenagers for the duration of the movie.

Normally, it would be my job to walk awkwardly up the steps and ask them to stop. That was what I should have done, according to theatre policy. But they were the only ones in there, so I opted to let them have fun. I walked out.

Two and a half hours later, Amber and I stood in the lobby, waiting for all of the movies to end so we could leave for the night. Slowly the people trickled out and walked to their cars. As per our nightly ritual, we counted how many were left. Five cars, three cars, one car. One car.

“All the movies are over,” Amber said. “Where are they?”

I shrugged.

“You take B-side hallway, I’ll take A-side hallway,” she said, and we split up to find whomever belonged to the one car that stood between us and freedom.

Theatre nine was empty. Theatre ten was empty. Then I remembered. Theatre eleven. I knew who the car belonged to. As I opened the doors I listened, hoping I wasn’t going to hear moaning or anything else inappropriate. I did not feel like walking into that. It was quiet, the screen was dark and the dimmer lights were on a low setting. When I stepped past the wall I saw them. They had fallen asleep holding hands. I tried to make extra noise as I ascended the stairs, hoping they would wake. They didn’t. I walked into the row in front of them.

“Excuse me,” I said. They did not stir. “Sir? Ma’am?” It seemed I was getting nowhere. “Excuse me. Hello?” I asked, louder.

“Hmm?” she mumbled, her eyes opening.

“You fell asleep during your movie,” I offered as explanation for who I was and where they were.

“Mulder,” she said, turning and shaking his shoulder.

“Five more minutes,” he responded, not opening his eyes.

“Mulder, this young lady would like to go home some time tonight, and we’re keeping her here.” She smiled apologetically at me.

“Huh? Scully? Where–?” he questioned, his eyes opening finally.

“We fell asleep during the movie.”

“I guess it really was as bad as I’ve heard,” I said, trying to make it less awkward for them.

They stood up to put on their coats.

“It was perfect,” he responded. “Just awful and perfect.”

I walked down the steps and out the doors. When I saw Amber across the lobby I checked to make sure they couldn’t see me and put my hands up to my face as if I were sleeping. She smiled and nodded. Behind me, the auditorium doors opened and they emerged, holding hands as they walked.

“Have a good night,” I called as they walked out the exit doors in the lobby. Mulder smiled at me and waved before they left, becoming silhouettes in the night.


End file.
